Open House

Andrew PaquinGrindstone Pictures

When Alice is imprisoned in her own house by the psychotic David (Brian Geraghty), in preparation for the arrival of his “partner” Lila (Tricia Helfer), who gets her kicks seducing men (and women) just before she has their throats slit, it isn’t long before David develops a misguided relationship with his prisoner Alice whom he is keeping chained up in a closet in the basement.

This is a film where terrible things happen within the safety of a sanitized suburban environment. Precise and brightly lit, the cinematography reflects the obsessive-compulsive behaviour of David as he documents with a video camera each unfortunate encounter with the deadly Lila.

While the script is a little rigid the performances carry the slow burn of the film providing a lot for very little and the sparse score does much to enhance the charged air of anxiety in this incestuous story of manipulation through sexual desire and violence.

Although let down only by the cheap and obvious ending, this is an intelligent instalment in the slasher genre, far more provocative than any I Know What You Did…